Slow down please...

We went to HS conferences tonight, heard how amazing and loved our kid is, then came home and filled out his FAFSA... he applied to a college this week, and we have a school visit coming up too. Time, please stop passing so quickly... I am not ready for the next stage quite yet.

World Read Aloud Day 2016

Found this draft from February of 2016...I still feel this way <3

Over the last few years I've slowly been submerging myself in the librarian & kidlit world. I want to know as much as possible and more importantly share as much as I can with my students and colleagues. It hasn't been easy.  I can't understand why others aren't as ridiculously giddy with excitement over new books!  author visits! Skype! Nerd camp! Twitter! read aloud day!  Weeks! months! Book fairs! as I am. Is it because I'm just starting this journey and others have been in the trenches longer than I have? Is it wanting to keep the status quo? Is it just being overworked? Finding my 'tribe' online is the best thing to happen to me. They keep me excited about what I'm doing & where I'm heading. They are willing share ideas & their time, and their passion. This amazing tribe is filled not only with  famous educators, authors & illustrators but regular people like me. I am grateful to all of them, although I probably come off looking like a stalker to many often ;)

And am continually amazed at what the power of connections can do... This week we are celebrating World Read Aloud Day...and my library will be participating, really and truly participating with educators and authors from around the country!! I can't get over it! What an amazing opportunity for my students! Thank you LitWorld, Andy Plemmons, Shannon Miller and so many others who have made this event possible, even for a beginner like me. 

My own little corner...

Since buying our new home almost 2 years ago I have thought about my own space...I mean I have more books than will ever fit into one room, and my amazing hubby is very sweet & generous in allowing me to have piles of them everywhere...but I'm talking about a library, study, reading nook, 'space' space. Today I am supposed to be finishing up 3 mid-term essays for history, but instead, I cleaned the house while the guys were outside doing yard work. After I cleaned and was in a mad fit trying to collect all of my homework and papers and binders and sticky notes from my various bags and piles to take to the public library, I realized I already HAD a space! Our extra bedroom in the basement! So, instead of immediately starting on my homework I made my own little study & work space. I LOVE our basement...it was one of the big selling points. It has huge windows and makes it feel like regular living space vs a basement. I moved an old desk-aka collect all the junk at the bottom of the stairs/toy room/bedroom shelf-into the bedroom, cleaned if off and out and hung some of my favorite pictures on the wall, as well as a sweet new poster I got from my last Scholastic book fair. I've got a salted caramel candle burning, my Cinnamon Spice tea, my Amazon music, and all of my books, papers, pens, and sticky notes. I haven't been this happy about a room space in a while....It's the little things ❤️

Now onto that mid-term! 😉

just a few nonfiction picture book favorites

This past fall I did the Picture book 10 for 10 and it helped get me back into blogging... 
So, after seeing the posts on Twitter this week I was reminded about the Nonfiction 10 for 10! Of course it totally helps that I've read some AMAZING Nonfiction picture books in the last few months too. These are in no particular order...and yes...there are a LOT of picture book biographies. If nonfiction had been written like this when I was younger I think I would have been more likely to pick them up.

Finding Winnie by Lindsay Mattick and illustrated by Sophie Blackall
Like just about everybody else in the kidlit world, I love this book!  I read it to 21 classes last week and I still get chills every time we find out who the little boy who visits the bear in the zoo is.

Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music by Margarita Engle
The story is so powerful and the images and color so beautiful!
Just love it!

I'm Trying to Love Spiders by Bethany Barton
My big, strong husband HATES spiders! So of course I had to grab this book from the library when I saw it...HILARIOUS!!

Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla
by Katherine Applegate
I adore The One and Only Ivan and when I discovered that it is based on a real gorilla I had to read more and this book is perfect!

Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova by Laurel Snyder illustrated by Julie Morstad. Absolutely breathtaking and heartbreaking story of the famous ballerina.

Water Is Water: A Book About the Water Cycle
by Miranda Paul  illustrated by Jason
Chin. Gorgeous illustrations and the story is simple and basic.

The House That Jane Built: A Story About Jane Addams by Tanya Lee Stone.
When I was little my parents bought my sisters and I the "Value Tales" books and I always remembered the story of Jane Addams.

 Enormous Smallness: A Story of E. E. Cummings
by Matthew Burgess illustrated by Kris Di Giacomo
I didn't know very much going in to this book but I loved it! The illustrations and the quotes and the story...all of it. Just beautiful.

Emmanuel's Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah
by Laurie Ann Thompson illustrated by Sean Qualls. Absolutely amazing story of how one man changed his life and the lives of others.

A Chicken Followed me Home by Robin Page
We are in our 3rd year of raising chickens and this would have been a great addition when we got them! :) This book has great info and bright and bold illustrations.

I'm having serious technical difficulties with pictures today, so if you click the titles you will be taken to Goodreads and you can see them there. Sorry about that :-(

Catchup week

I'm off work this week for mid-winter break...that means time to catch a horrible cold and to catch up on my 3 classes 😜 But SO grateful for a day with my guys yesterday just hanging out at home, playing board games, reading books, drinking tea & eating Chinese food.  😊 

Pity party

My first real college level English paper was due this past Monday and I don't think I've ever struggled with writing a paper like that before! I got my grade back and comments from the professor and I feel like a failure! Like I wanted to quit. Like I'm nothing. Not good enough. I'm beyond grateful for my husband and mom who fill me with encouragement to continue. Not sure I could do it otherwise. I'm struggling again this week...this is NOT an easy course!! 

I'm still thinking those thoughts...I knew going into this college thing wasn't going to be easy but a 4+ page research paper due every Monday while taking 2 other classes, working and trying to be a good wife & mom is seriously taking its toll on me. I'm exhausted. I've been up past midnight two nights in a row. I'm emotional. I know there will be a reward when it's over but will I ever even get there? 

Just one Moore thing...: Pumpkin cookies

Just one Moore thing...: Pumpkin cookies

Pumpkin cookies

Growing up my best friend was my neighbor Alice. Her children were grown, but I never really thought of her as a grandmother type, she was just my friend. She loved gardening and I would spend many hours helping her with all of her vegetables & flowers. I would make mud pies, eat rhubarb dipped in sugar, can pickles, try to pick 'money' from the money plant and also bake with her. We moved away when I was in 6th grade but my memories of her are some of the best of my childhood. As I grew up and moved even farther away and started my family we started writing to each other. She would tell me about what was happening with her husband, children and grand children and I would send pictures of my new baby. She grew up in the mountains of Kentucky and only had a 3rd grade education so but her letters  were the best gifts. My favorite letters from her included her recipes for pumpkin cookies & rhubarb pie...two of my favorites of hers as a child. Every fall I make the pumpkin cookies just like she did and I am reminded of my dear old friend and how much she meant to me. Since moving to the country I can't help but wonder if one of our neighbors will become my boys' 'Alice'. Thank you Alice for being such an important part of my childhood. ❤️ 

Gifts...

My mom has been reading 'One Thousand Gifts' by Ann Voskamp and has been posting gifts on Facebook this week for Advent. It's really been making me think about what gifts I've been given and that has helped me to feel more focused on the current season of life that I'm in. 

So this is my gift today 

This makes everything feel new and fresh no matter what's happened before. Thank you God for fresh starts & this amazing reminder every day. 

Trying this yet again

Well, here I am again, starting over...this seems to be a recurrent theme of mine ;) this time I'm starting school...again... For the 4th(?) time. Praying this time I'll really finish and reach my goal. I think I'm more accountable this time thanks to these three great guys ...

I really want them to see that I can do this. I want them to be proud of me. I especially want to be proud of myself. So, to new beginnings... Again! ;) 

Blog design help!

Because I'm still so new to this I would LOVE some help with the design and layout of this blog. I should probably watch some YouTube videos or have my 13 year old do it ;-) How to add pictures the right way, etc. There are so many great blogs that I follow that look so professional I really need help so that mine doesn't stay looking like a 12 year old girl did it (that was the last time I remember being really creative) So...tips & advice are totally welcome!

Picture Book 10 for 10

I LOVE picture books and trying to pick just 10 is so hard! But for today I'm going to go with the 10 best that I've read so far this year, even though I'm sure there will be duplicates from others, but so far the ones pictured below are my favorites. They are my 4/5 ⭐️ books due to theme, humor, illustrations, if they made me laugh or cry or if it taught me something. Some are new and some are older but all are books I will be sharing this school year :) 

momsense...like Spidey sense, but for moms

I haven't written in a long time because I'm still trying to figure out the perfect balance for this blog...home, work, school, etc... but today when I wanted to write out a rambling  post on Facebook, I decided this would be a better outlet for it...so here it is...

momsense...like spidey sense but for moms :-) 
my 'little big boy' aka my 12 year old, complained of a sore throat this morning...by noon I could tell it wasn't just the usual allergies... so without even thinking we went to the urgent care and he has strep throat. So glad we went! He hasn't been 'sick' in a long time and I could just tell... but now I'm a bit nervous...he has a horribly severe allergy to penicillin... so what do they give him? Keflex...which states right in the warnings that if you have an allergy to penicillin, etc that you probably shouldn't take it... and the Dr knew this, and went ahead and prescribed it anyway! Well, I had him take it...because they went to school for a LOT longer than I did right? Now I feel like I  need to keep an even closer eye on him to watch for itchy throat, swelling, a rash, etc. without making him feel creeped out and annoyed with me any more than normal. So, is my momsense wrong this time? It was this summer when I thought he had secondary drowning and took him to the ER while on vacation.  I am praying it is... going to make up for it by feeding him pudding and Popsicles while snuggling up on the couch watching X-Men Days of Future Past. 

It's June already?!

Ok, so as much as I want to, I really don't do very well with this blogging thing. The app just didn't work out the way I wanted it to... It never saved! How frustrating! I'm getting better with the book reviews though...they don't need to be an actual blog post, I can just use goodreads or the form on netgalley. Speaking of which...I have read some really fantastic kids books lately! 'under the egg', 'A Snicker of Magic' , 'We were Liars' were the two most recent...wow! I mentioned some on twitter and then their authors favorited, retweeted and then followed me! Me! (That's me shrieking like a little girl) So twitter...I think I'm a bit obsessed, or maybe just enamored with the amazing people you can follow and learn from... Or just follow for fun like Jimmy Fallon ;) anyway... I follow some amazing people on twitter and they have fantastic blogs too! I want to be able to write like that some day...for now it's just my random ramblings... I'm super excited because in about a month I will actually get to meet them! It will be like meeting a celebrity! But they are teachers, educators & school librarians (hey, they can still be celebrities!) So...it's June! Only 17 more school days left! 5, 3, 4, 5 I think we can do it! Oh and there's a wedding in there! Better get shopping for the boys & hubby's dress clothes! ;) enough randomness for tonight...until next time!

Happy New Year!

Yes, it's a day late but yesterday was spent reading, doing an entire puzzle, cooking and spending one last vacation  day together as a family. 

I'm not one for resolutions and also don't do well with following through on goals, especially if they are challenging ones, but I'm good with lists and crossing things off as I get them done. A mentor once said that when making lists make sure to write things like make the bed & brush your teeth that way you can cross something off and you feel more empowered and likely to get to the rest. :) 

So here's my list for this year, but instead of just crossing things off daily I want to actually do these things all year

*read a book a week -children's books & books for myself-ones that challenge me & make me a better person or just make me laugh, cry, or think. 

*Enjoy food cooked at home more often & invite others too

*Have coffee dates with friends who make me laugh, think & want to be a better person 

*Discover something physical that I actually want to do and do it! (Running is already out of the question ;) 

*live out what God is teaching me through my daily walk with Him

*Spend QUALITY time with people I love 

My first book review...

Duke by Kirby Larson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was looking forward to reading this book when it came out so I was really excited to be able to preview it for Netgalley. This was a historical fiction book about World War II, something that I have been quite in love with lately. There are so many aspects to that war that I was completely unaware of and this book was about yet another...Dogs for Defense. This is a great book about an 11 year old boy and his dog, their family, friends and life during the war. I was very surprised at how much kids were expected to 'help with the war effort' from small things like collecting cans for money, to large things like giving up your best friend so he could help in the war. I knew going in that this book was about a boy who gave up his dog but it was still sad to me in spots, and there were other emotional surprises as well, but there was humor, joy and 'real' humanity as well and I really loved it. I can't wait to share with the boys (and girls) at my school because I think they would really like it and also be able to see life in a different way as well.

View all my reviews ">

Just not this way...

Well, we've been working on clearing out and cleaning up our basement for a while to try and 'simplify' we just didn't do it fast enough. After a record breaking rain fall (3.4 inches!) last night/this morning everything in the north and west side of our basement is now heading to the curb vs to a charity :( couch, recliners, entertainment center, carpet, suitcases, wicker baskets, not to mention things in the 'workbench' area that were on the floor. I am surprisingly calm about this... Thankfully the hubby found it all first and warned me otherwise I don't think I'd be so calm. ;)  It all just 'stuff' right? It could be so much worse and praise God it's not! I just feel bad about the furniture that someone could have used had it been dry.

 'Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.' (1 John 2:15 ESV)

Lazy afternoons

So we started school last Monday... Yeah it's early but we have two 4 day weekends coming up plus random weeks off ;) anyway... With that I also started my new work schedule for the year Monday-Friday 8-12. I am SO happy with that decision!! The weather this week has been absolutely perfect for sitting on the deck with an iced coffee and a book. :) my goal for the next few weeks is to finish all of the books I have going at random (so far, so good!) yeah, I should  be doing something adult like cleaning or meals or something like that but for now, I am using this perfectly beautiful summer weather for me time and NOT going to feel guilty about it one bit❤

Rata what?!

We are almost two months in to our first year of being a part of a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and boy have we had some veggie adventures!! Our farm (Titus Farms of Leslie, Mi) has been fantastic! Lots of choices  each week, beautiful veggies, ideas for using each one if they are 'obscure' and how to store them. They also give a few recipes each week before pick up in an email. So our experience so far has been fantastic!! But if you haven't met my guys let me just say that they aren't the most adventurous when it comes to trying new foods... I am definitely the adventurer as far as that goes. I am so grateful for some other 'foodie' friends and Pinterest for new veggie recipes!  Well, for my picky family, some were winners and  some incredible losers. oh well... At least I was able to get them to try just one bite of something new :)

here's a pic of tonight's experiment

 tweaked from Emeril's ratatouille

emealz...

I heard Jen on SmileFM talking about this a while ago, so when I had an opportunity to purchase a year subscription for a small price I jumped at it...so today they launched a "clean eating" plan and I decided to start my subscription! (Clean eating = less processed food) I joined today and what do you know...they will give me a "commission" if others join as well! SO cool! Can't wait to get shopping and try new recipes!
If you are interested, just click the link ;-) I'll update after we try a week's worth of meals too.

Emealz